The longer consumers want to interact with you, the more they’ll warm up to your brand. Brand managers investing in good content marketing, native, and storytelling see higher levels of time spent with their content and, hence, the brand message. This is wildly more important than clicks and impressions, and it has the added benefit of increasing brand strength (ROE).

Brand loyalists are the Holy Grail of customers for any company. Marketing efforts aimed at increasing your ROE are much more likely to transform brand fans into brand loyalists. Display ads and other similar advertising efforts help create awareness, but they usually don’t sway consumers into becoming advocates.

Downloads

Apps and games increase ROE. There are lots of metrics you can track in such products to determine whether you’re succeeding, but when it comes to ROE, the amount of downloads can be one powerful indicator that you have a horde of fans willing to give your efforts a try.

Shares

Shares are among the most important indicators that you’re succeeding at increasing ROE. When a consumer shares your content (especially on personal social media outlets) it’s a big sign you’re grooming a brand advocate. Work backward from the goal of getting people to share, and you’ll avoid wasting your time creating boring, lifeless content.

Positive interaction with your brand (comments and outreach)

Every brand gets regular amounts of negative feedback. People love to complain, and when a brand is a faceless entity, it becomes easy for a consumer to vent.

If you’re seeing a rise in positive feedback, it’s an indicator that you’re building a face and personality for your brand. This is very important, as it leads to ROE based on conversation, rather than having your brand end up a punching bag.

Western Union’s senior vice president of marketing, Laston Charriez, discusses how his renowned brand measures return on engagement and why it’s so important for today’s marketers to value:

David Zaleski is the senior media producer of iMediaConnection, where a version of this article first appeared.